REMOTE INSTALLATION

Configuring Remote Installation Services

There are many ways to deploy Operating Systems to your network computers. Remote Installation Services (RIS) is one that often gets over looked. TLA reader James Rudley shows us how easy it is to install and configure RIS so you can start using it to deploy OSes to your workstations.

Installing RIS can be a tricky process and when most people think about PXE booting, they get discouraged. With some reading and practice, you will have a better understanding on how RIS works and hopefully you will give it a try. First thing we need to do is find a server that you can create a partition on. RIS does not allow you to have the OS images sitting on the system partition. In this example, I am using a member server with 2 hard drives. One dedicated to the system partition and the other for the OS images. With the partitions configured the nest thing we need to do is install RIS. Go to Add/Remove Programs | Add/Remove Windows Components and scroll down until you find the Remote Installation Services option. Check the box next to it and click Next to proceed.

 

Once the setup is complete, Remote Installation Services Setup will appear in the Administrative Tools menu.

Click on Remote Installation Services Setup to start the setup wizard.

The first piece of information you need to provide is where you want to store your images. I selected E:\RIS Images\ for this example.

The next screen is asking what should be done with existing clients, we will skip this step in this example so you can just hit Next. Next insert the install CD for the OS you wish to install. Select the CD-ROM drive with the OS install media and click Next. You could also specify the install file on a share on the network.

 

Once the image is prepared, if you open up ADU&C and right click on your RIS computer object and then select properties, you will see a new tab called Remote Install.

 

The Respond to client computers requesting service is unchecked by default. You must select it when you are ready to deploy new images. Now that the installation part is done, let’s look at configuring RIS. To install an OS, begin by opening up ADU&C and right click on your RIS computer object, select the Remote Install tab and then click on Advanced Settings.

 

Here we can set the client computer naming scheme. The dropdown box lets you pick some predefined schemes or you can click on Customize to create your own naming scheme. You will be shown a preview based on your choice. The client account location will let you pick where the object is created. The Images tab will show you all the images you have.

 

The Tools tab is for 3rd party software that works with RIS. On our test client, I booted up selecting Network Boot which found the RIS server and away we go.

 

If you want to fully automate your install, create an answer file and add it to your RIS image. The answer file can be create with notepad, but Setup Manager from the XP Deployment Tools is a lot easier. Once you have created the answer file, go to the Advanced Settings button of the RIS server object, select the images tab and click on Add. You can add a new answer file to an existing image here and it will be applied when installing the OS.